


I miss you when you're gone

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, Drinking, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Mild Sexual Content, a bunch of dialogue because i can't shut my characters up, it's kind of au whatever, the harry/louis stuff is so little so shoo if that's what you're looking for, there's angst if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-23
Updated: 2013-11-23
Packaged: 2018-01-01 16:57:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1046275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She gives him butterflies in his stomach and it's stupid how much he thinks about her, how often he's reminded of her, how often he thinks about doing all the cheesy, 'romantic' things his older brother always warned him not to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I miss you when you're gone

**Author's Note:**

> so i wrote this on a whim and i still don't know why. um, it's relatively standard (and hetero), and it's wayyy different from most of the things i've written. the title is from 'when you're gone' by the cranberries.  
> (please don't link this on twitter to anyone associated with one direction because that'd be pretty fucked up.) (disclaimer: obviously this didn't happen and if it did, none of us would know about it)

“It's, like, bro-code or somethin' like that,” Zayn mumbles. He shrugs, brings a cigarette to his lips and waves flippantly to Liam to continue.

“Right. 'Bro-code.' That's the word I was looking for. She's fit, yeah, but do you really want to risk it?” Liam looks to Louis, who's curled up on the couch, still in his sweaty clothes from the gig. “Louis, what do you think?”

Louis peeks out from under the arm draped over his head and shrugs. “I say 'fuck it.' Just do it. If you love her and all that then Harry'll understand-,”

“And if he doesn't?” Niall questions.

Zayn chuckles, shaking his head. “Bro, Harry is like the most non-confrontational person in the world.”

Liam raises an eyebrow. _“'Non-confrontational?'_ Is that a word?”

Zayn's smile falls. “Yeah, it is. It means he won't start a fight or anything-,”

“Basically Harry is like... a baby deer or something,” Louis explains, and he smiles fondly to himself before he gets back to the matter at hand. “You don't have to worry about him freaking out or anything. If he finds out you're shagging his sister, what's the worst that can happen?”

///

At three A.M., Niall is woken up by someone banging on his hotel door.

He groans, rolling over to wrap himself tighter in the sheets. “Fuck off!”

The banging only gets louder though, and Niall gets up and goes to the door reluctantly, rubbing his eyes as he unlocks it and pulls it open a little. Through the crack, he sees one green, angry eye staring right at him. 

Niall sighs, opening up the door completely. “Hey, Harry.”

Harry stands there for a moment– Niall notices that he's just in a pair of boxers and miss-matched socks; pretty much anyone could walk by and get quite the view of him. His arms are folded over his chest and he's got his lips set in a tight line that kind of makes him look like a pouting child.

“Are you shagging my sister?”

A nervous chuckle rises up from Niall's chest. He reaches up and scratches the back of his head. “Who told you that?”

“Louis just told me.”

“Louis?” Niall laughs, deciding to change the subject. “Thought you two were done.”

“We are,” Harry defends. “We're just...”

“Fucking?” Niall guesses. “What about his girlfriend?”

Harry turns a shade of pink and actually cracks a smile before forcing himself to frown again. “Hey, this isn't about me.”

“What's this about then? It's, like, three in the mornin' and we've probably got to be up at some ungodly hour-,”

“Are you shagging my sister?” Harry repeats. He's giving Niall a stern stare and Niall just stares back, initially prepared to tell him to fuck off, but at the last second he starts thinking that maybe, out of all people, Harry deserves to know about what could possibly be going on.

Really, it was only once. And even then it was a spur of the moment kind of thing.

It all started with a look across the room...

And just thinking that makes Niall feel like in some stupid, romantic movie where things like that actually happen and make perfect sense. The characters don't question why they lock eyes with person and start falling head over heels in what feels like a matter of seconds. It felt like slow motion, the way she blinked and looked over her shoulder as she left the room, a smile playing on her lips.

After that, there was some embarrassingly awkward flirting and an exchange of equally embarrassing drunken text messages (' _what r u wearing ?' 'you just saw me an hour ago you perv...' 'doesnt mean im not thinking about u' 'youre thinking about me?' ' feels like every day i start thinking about you more and more' ':) im actually wearing your shirt. i snagged it from harry haha' 'really ? Send me a picture ?'_ ). 

They shared their first kiss behind the tour bus, after Niall went out on a limb, took her hand and let her know, after rehearsing it a million time in his head, that was starting to really fancy her. (“So, um... you're literally one of coolest girls I've ever met... and, um, for some reason I can't stop thinking about kissing you.”) He can't say it went exactly how he planned but, apparently, she thought it was 'cute.' They spent the next week trying to hide the fact their budding romance and before she flew back home, she snuck into Niall's room way past midnight and followed by some whispers in the dark, they crawled into bed together and...

“Not really,” Niall says finally.

“' _Not really?_ '” Harry questions. 

“Harry, man,” Niall sighs, takes a deep breath. “If you found out I was shagging your sister, would you really want to hear about it?”

“God, _no._ I don't want _details._ That's just...” Harry pulls a disgusted face, then groans. “I just want an answer – yes, or no? Don't dance around the point, just tell me.”

Niall remembers when he first admitted to himself how much he really fancied her. He remembers having the realization that she was the manifestation of every girl he's ever dreamed of, except fifty times better because she's _real._ She's sweet (when she wants to be), she's funny, she's sexy as hell...

The only potential problem he could think of is that her last name is Styles. He feels his cheeks get hot. “I... I really like her, Harry. I-,” 

Harry's eyes go wide. “Oh my _god_. You _did.”_ Then he starts pacing, as if this is important, life changing information. _“Shit.”_

“You say it like it's just sex. It wasn't, like, a one-night-stand or anything. I plan on taking her out and all that.” Niall watches Harry throw his arms up over his head in a quite over-dramatic manner. “She's flying back out soon.”

“And that's supposed to make it _better?_ That you're going to do it again?”

“Well, what am I supposed to say? You're going to think it's weird no matter what.”

“Of course I think it's weird!” Harry snaps. Less than a second later, he deflates, shaking his head. “Because it's really, _really_ weird.”

“This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you. I wanted her to tell you.”

Sighing, Harry says, “I thought Louis was just being a prat, you know? Trying to get under my skin for some reason. You know how he is.”

“Yeah.” Niall winces a little, thinking about how the way Louis teases can often be mistaken as mean-spirited. Everyone close to him knows that it's all in good fun though, even if he does have the tendency to drive them up the wall from time to time. It'd be easy for him to turn the conversation around and make it about Harry and Louis but he knows that it's a touchy subject. It seems like Harry senses this too.

He nods, then takes a deep breath. “We'll talk tomorrow, alright? I'm too tired for this right now.”

“Sure,” Niall says, even though he has every intention to avoid the conversation, even if it makes him some kind of coward. 

Harry waves goodnight as he walks away.

Niall calls out, because he knows that Louis is in Harry's room: “Tell your boyfriend he's a big mouth.”

Harry turns, continuing his walk backwards. “He's _not_ my boyfriend.”

“ _Right,”_ Niall laughs. “Goodnight.”

///

When they're in the green room the next afternoon, waiting for sound check, Harry finally cracks. After being silent all day, not even sparing a word to Louis, he starts putting on a pout and it's impossible for Liam to sit there and not ask what's wrong.

“Would you let Niall date _your_ sister?” Harry asks him.

Liam just scoffs, like it's a joke. “No way.”

“Zayn, would you?”

Zayn doesn't even look up from the magazine he's skimming through. “Never.”

“Louis?”

Louis laughs. He's splayed out on the sofa, glued to his phone like he has been all day. “It's out of the question. Though Daisy swears she's waiting to be 18 for you.”

Pleased to have three other people 'on his side', Harry exalts, “Exactly!”

“Hey, I'm not a bad guy,” Niall defends. He doesn't really like sitting there feeling like a giant dick just because he happened to fall for his band mate's sister. “You're making it out like some kind of fuck up. Like I'm out to corrupt her or something.”

“I'm not saying you're a bad guy. You're a really good guy. I'm just saying-,”

“What _are_ you saying? Do you really hate the idea of me dating your sister that much?” 

“Well, _no,_ but-,”

“But?”

“Why is that you're not allowed to date their sisters, but you're allowed to date mine. That's all I want to know.”

Niall shrugs. “If I had a sister, and you wanted to date her, I'd be cool about it. I wouldn't be a cock about it like you are right now.”

“I'm not being a cock about it,” Harry says.

Louis scoffs, “Yes you are.”

“This is really none of your business, Louis.”

“And what your sister does is none of yours either. She's a big girl and she can handle herself, alright? Niall doesn't need your blessing or anything; it's not like they're getting married.”

Niall speaks up then, clearing his throat. “I wasn't really looking for his approval or anything,” he says, but the comment goes unheard in the thick tension between Harry and Louis. 

“Just stay out of it,” Harry continues. “Don't you have your own shit to figure out anyway?”

That stifles Louis, making him go all red in the face, and if Niall didn't know any better, he would think Louis is ready to haul off and smack Harry across the face.

But they're hot and cold like this all the time and it never really boils down to anything too serious, nothing they all haven't discussed before; when they're hot, no one can pry them apart, but when they're cold, it makes things uncomfortable for everyone around them.

Liam and Zayn share a look, then leave the room; they know better than to interrupt. Niall wants to walk out with them, let Harry and Louis sit alone in the tension they created, but he doesn't. Instead he just clears his throat again to call attention to himself.

“Look,” he begins. “I actually don't really want to talk about this anymore. Honestly, I don't really think it's something that needs to be talked about at all, but here we are. I get it might be weird for you Harry, but that doesn't mean you get to bring anyone else into it. And Louis, you're right, but Harry is right too: you should probably figure your own shit out before you put yourself in everyone else's.”

A heavy silence falls between the three of them and for a moment, they're all completely still. Then Louis gets up and storms out of the room without another word. Without a second of hesitation, Harry follows after him, slamming the door in his wake.

///

Gemma arrives on day one of Niall's three days off in Australia. So, appropriately, the only thing that makes sense for them is to lock themselves in Niall's room with beer, take-out, and a board game that Gemma brought along. They promise not to talk about Harry (“He'll get over it,” Gemma says. “He's probably over it already), so they talk about music instead. Lounging about on the bed, they share chips and drink from the same bottle of beer; she's wearing one of Niall's t-shirts and not much else, and it hangs off her small frame in just the right way.

“So, do you think this is weird?” she asks, once again moving her little figurine ahead of his on the board. There's no way at this point that he'll regain his lead, especially if he can't keep his gaze from traveling up Gemma's legs. He's fine with letting her win though, because it isn't as if the game is that important to him. What's important is the way she moves, how she tucks her hair behind her ear, how she licks the corner of her lips, how she has the most devilish-looking grin when she wants to... the way she leans forward and touches Niall's lips in a near kiss...

He knows what's she's talking about; he doesn't have to ask. “Only if you make it weird.”

“I won't. I promise,” she says. “But I can't stop thinking about I've known you all these years and I never thought of you as anything other than a younger brother.”

Chuckling, Niall rolls the plastic dice and draws a card. “Well when you put it that way, it sounds kind of fucked up.”

She rolls her eyes. “I don't think of you as a little brother _now,_ obviously.”

“Good.”

For a moment, it's quiet between them. Niall pops open another bottle of beer and hands it over to her to take the first drink. 

She passes it back, lowering her gaze to the board. “It was like one day I looked at you and had the sudden realization that you're quite handsome. After that, I just saw you different or something. Suddenly it wasn't just 'oh, it's only Niall,' but it was something like 'oh my god, it's _Niall'_ and the next thing I know I'm thinking about you before I fall asleep, like one of your fan girls. I remember telling some of my friends – like, wow I actually have a crush. I feel like a little girl, you know?”

Niall ducks his head to hide his grin, takes a sip of the beer. “You told your friends about me?”

“I didn't say your name, of course. I won't tell them – too much drama then.”

“I told my friends about you,” he tells her. “Same thing though, no name.”

“What'd you say?”

( _“Is she fit? Is that a real question mate? You've seen her, of course she's fucking fit. But she's smart too, like, crazy smart and she still laughs at my jokes and she listens to good music and she looks so good in my clothes I just want to-”_ )

“Can't repeat it.”

“Was it that bad?”

“It wasn't bad. I'm not telling though.”

“C'mon, tell me.”

“Make me.”

A lovely blush spreads across her cheeks. She chuckles, toying with the hem of Niall shirt. “I'll make you do something. Won't involve much talking though.”

He's stares down at the board again, knowing that his face is probably about six shades of red. “You make me nervous,” he blurts out. “You've always made me nervous, but not... not like this. It's like suddenly I give a shit what you think about me and really, I don't think I've been this nervous around a girl since I was about eleven.” 

He glances up and Gemma's slender fingers wrap around the neck of the beer bottle, she slips it out of his hand. “Oooh, so it's a good nervous then?” she says, before taking a long drink.

Before he gets too fixated on the way her lips look around the tip of the bottle, Niall redirects the conversation. “I miss you when you're gone.”

At that, her trademark grin makes an appearance. She quirks up an eyebrow as well. “Do you?”

She gives him butterflies in his stomach and it's stupid how much he thinks about her, how often he's reminded of her, how often he thinks about doing all the cheesy, 'romantic' things his older brother always warned him not to do. When she's gone, he wants to send her flowers and balloons and long, drawn out declarations of his adoration, but he always ends up deciding on a simple text message (that he usually spends more time than he should editing and spell-checking).

“I really do,” he admits. 

“Well,” she says, unfolding her legs. She kicks over everything on the board in the process, then decides to knock the entire thing off the bed. She crawls into Niall's lap, straddling his hips easily. “I'm here now.”

Niall slides his hands up the shirt she's wearing, over the small of her back. She shivers at his touch and he smiles, drawing circles on her skin with his fingertips. “What?”

“Your hands are cold,” she giggles.

“Then let me warm them up,” he teases, sliding his hands up along her spine and over the dip between her shoulder-blades. Her nose tickles his neck and her breath is hot on his skin. He lowers his hands to her hips, feeling the soft lace and cotton there. Again she shivers, so he pulls back, “Still too cold?”

“No, I just-,” She bites her lip, circling her hips against his, and her cheeks redden.

“ _Oh.”_ His heart begins to race and neither of them have gotten their clothes off yet; he kisses her, knowing that she can feel how excited he's getting already.

This is what he misses the most about her – not the sex, but just being able to feel her body against his and feeling her breath on his cheek when she talks. It's nice to have someone in that way; he was without the feeling for so long that it almost became normal. But now, he stays up at night, missing the feeling while she's halfway across the world.

She whispers in his ear, “Do you have anything?”

He pulls back, puzzled for a second before he realizes that she's asking if he has a condom. “Oh, I – um, let me just –,” 

She nods, understanding, and crawls off his lap. He's a mess, and he's positive that it's her making him this way, her wide, brown eyes stare him down expectantly as he searches through bags and pockets for the 3 pack of condoms he's pretty sure he bought before she arrived.

“They were just in here,” Niall says, emptying out a backpack full of socks and boxers. “ _Fuck._ ”

“Why don't you just ask one of the lads?”

He looks up at her, incredulous; she's just lying there on her front, propped up on her elbows and wearing a little smirk on her lips. 

“It's pretty late, isn't it? I'm sure everyone is sleeping.”

Gemma wags a finger at him. “Not that late. Harry's a night owl.”

The idea of asking if anyone has any spare condoms lying around isn't really embarrassing in itself, but he doesn't really feel comfortable going over and asking Harry for a condom so he can come back and fuck his sister so...

“We can just wait until tomorrow, yeah?” Niall suggests. “I'll go out and buy more.”

“C'mon, Niall.”

“We can just cuddle until then.”

She laughs, rolling over on her side. “Don't be a baby.”

Niall gives her an exaggerated groan and rolls his eyes. “ _Fine._ ” 

He hesitates to get dressed, before deciding that her smile is worth putting in a little extra effort. Before he leaves the room, he places a kiss on her forehead and slips on a pair of socks and a t-shirt.

Thankfully, the hall is empty when he steps out into it and as far as he can see, there are no girls lurking around waiting for him to come out. He knocks on the door of Harry's room, telling himself he'll only wait around for about 30 seconds before he starts to assume that Harry is asleep, like any normal person should be at nearly two in the morning.

The door swings open and, unsurprisingly, Louis stands there. In nothing but a pair of briefs, which Niall is equally unfazed by.

“Thought you were with your girlfriend?”

Louis raises his eyebrows in question. “Girlfriend?”

He does this sometimes, pretends that she doesn't exist, when other days he pretends that he's over the moon for her even though everyone knows his eyes only light up for one person. As if on cue, Harry comes up behind Louis and wraps his arms around him. He looks a little dazed, and well, properly fucked.

“Heyyyy, Niall. What's up?” he asks, with his trademark goofy grin on his face.

Niall sighs, and just goes for the kill. Gemma is waiting for him; he doesn't have time to beat around the bush.

“Do you two have any extra condoms around that I could, like, take?”

“Condoms?” Louis repeats.

“Yeah, yeah, you heard me, don't make me ask again.”

If possible, Harry grins even wider, and Louis turns to him as if for approval. Harry nods and the both of them disappear into the darkness of the room for a moment or two, leaving Niall alone. When they come back, they each have a handful of little square packets.

“Here. Extra,” Louis says, which makes Niall wonder just how many they actually have lying around.

“Um, thanks,” Niall mutters, attempting to take all of the condoms into his hands at once. He drops of few, but doesn't pick them up.

“No problem,” Harry says. He picks up the condoms Niall dropped and sits them carefully atop the pile in his palms. “Sorry I was being a dick about it the other day.”

“It's fine. I get it.”

“Good,” Louis speaks, “but if you don't mind, we were in the middle of something.”

“ _Oh_.” Niall forces out a chuckle to break the awkward tension and starts to shuffle away, back to his room. “Goodnight then.”

Louis shuts the door as Harry is giving a cheerful 'Goodnight.' Niall is thankful for Louis in that moment, for making things considerably less uncomfortable.

Back at his room, Gemma is tucked under the blankets. The t-shirt she was wearing is on the floor next to the bed. “How'd it go?”

He holds up his hands to answer her question, then throws the condoms up in the air like confetti.

She beckons him over, giggling. “Come over here, you donut.”

He strips off his clothes and climbs in next to her, pulling the blankets over their heads. Immediately, she climbs on top of him and begins to land kisses down his neck and across his bare chest. She whispers, “What'd you tell your friends about me?”

“I told them how lovely you are,” he breathes, holding her around the waist. Lowering his voice, he says, “I told them how much I think about making you cum.”

She hums in response, pulling her fingers through his hair and circling her hips against him. His senses are flooded with her – her scent, her taste, her soft skin; his mind and heart race with anticipation...


End file.
